{"id":44922,"date":"2024-10-28T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-28T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/?p=44922"},"modified":"2024-10-28T07:32:42","modified_gmt":"2024-10-28T10:32:42","slug":"the-election-of-hate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/the-election-of-hate\/","title":{"rendered":"The election of hate"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One of the paradoxes of the U.S. presidential elections is that one candidate, whose appeal among voters largely lies in the economy, believes that this is not the primary issue of the election. For the first time in a campaign event, Trump openly stated what he had been discussing with his top advisors: that immigration is the central issue, “it surpasses the economy.” But that’s not all\u2014Trump declared that “the United States is now an occupied country. But on November 5, 2024, it will be the day of liberation in the United States.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Occupied country? Liberation? These conspiratorial and apocalyptic ideas are reminiscent of Latin American dictatorships such as Jorge Rafael Videla\u2019s in Argentina or Augusto Pinochet\u2019s in Chile. Going further back, they echo fascist speeches by Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Pinochet could write a book on freedom while simultaneously destroying it completely in his country by demonizing and murdering opponents, Trump is promising mass deportations and an ephemeral dictatorship on the first day of his government: \u201cthe dictatorship of day one.\u201d To make matters worse, the former president claims that immigrants should not be considered people, stating that they poison the nation\u2019s character by \u201cpoisoning the blood of our country\u201d\u2014words that closely resemble Hitler\u2019s in Mein Kampf: \u201cAll the great cultures of the past perished because the original creative races died out due to blood poisoning.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The relationship between crime and dehumanization<\/a>, exploited by leaders like Bolsonaro in Brazil and Bukele in El Salvador, is part of an extremist ideology that predates them. Extralegal violence is presented as the ultimate solution to people’s problems. In this context, the economy and inequality become secondary, and the politics of understanding and democratic dialogue disappear altogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A recurring narrative in the region<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the mid-20th century, Brazilian fascist leader Plinio Salgado argued that violence was part of the struggle for the soul of civilization and would save the nation from extinction by destroying those deemed different. In his view, impartiality was impossible in the battle between \u201cgood and evil,\u201d and action was required against \u201cdegenerates and criminals.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Argentine fascists in the early 20th century, the convergence of democracy, immigration, and socialism created more criminals and represented a great threat to “national security.” The famous Argentine fascist writer Leopoldo Lugones claimed that many immigrants were \u201cabnormal\u201d and \u201cvicious criminals\u201d and that their presence was \u201cintolerable.\u201d This connection between criminals, absolute enemies, and ideology was fundamental to fascist thinking. In Mein Kampf, Hitler wrote that enemies \u201cdo not live in this world as representatives of honor and sincerity but as champions of deceit, lies, theft, plunder, and pillage.\u201d This dehumanization of adversaries made it easier to strip them of their victimhood. The next steps were deportation, concentration camps, and extermination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What could happen in the United States?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many experts wonder how Trump, if he wins the election, could change the political system, given that U.S. democracy is built on a complex system of checks and balances, legal safeguards, and social constraints. However, authoritarian plans are already in writing. We should especially note the Project 2025 from the Heritage Foundation, introduced by Trump\u2019s vice-presidential candidate J. D. Vance. One idea is to reclassify countless civil servants as political appointees, allowing them to be replaced by Trump loyalists. This suggests the erosion of institutional boundaries, concentrating power in the hands of the leader and establishing a state completely subject to his whims. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Concerns over a potential Trump victory and its relationship with fascism recently made the front page of The New York Times. Even Democratic candidate Kamala Harris has said that Trump\u2019s vision can be considered fascist. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump is \u201cfascist to the core,\u201d said retired General Mark Milley<\/a> in a new book by renowned journalist Bob Woodward. The former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff added that Trump is \u201cthe most dangerous person for this country.\u201d Milley\u2019s remarks confirmed what many already believe. Trump\u2019s politics, based on hatred, lies, the glorification of violence, repression, and dictatorial ambitions, are alarmingly similar to classical forms of fascism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump\u2019s understanding of politics is very basic and intuitive. He has no deeper theoretical foundations for his fascist tendencies beyond superficial support for ideas that are already popular among his far-right base. Like Bolsonaro, Trump views far-right politics primarily as a means of personal advancement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this sense, Trump\u2019s refusal to accept the democratic system\u2019s verdict after losing the 2020 election combines his anti-democratic impulses with personal fears, the same combination that has defined totalitarians and fascists for decades. The former\u2014and possibly future\u2014president follows Hitler\u2019s playbook by projecting all his hatreds, fantasies, and ambitions onto his enemies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trump\u2019s understanding of politics is very basic and intuitive. He has no deeper theoretical foundations for his fascist tendencies beyond superficial support for ideas that are already popular among his far-right base. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":77,"featured_media":44919,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16818,16856],"tags":[],"gps":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-44922","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-elecciones-en","8":"category-eeuu-en"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/77"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44922\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44922"},{"taxonomy":"gps","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/gps?post=44922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}